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The Axis II Work Group of the Task Force on DSM—IV has expressed concern that
antisocial personality disorder (APD) criteria are too long and cumbersome and that they
focus on antisocial behaviors rather than personality traits central to traditional conceptions
of psychopathy and to international criteria. We describe an alternative to the approach
taken in the rev. 3rd ed. of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (
DSM—III—R ; American Psychiatric Association, 1987 ), namely, the revised Psychopathy
Checklist. We also discuss the multisite APD field trials designed to evaluate and compare
four criteria sets: the DSM—III—R criteria, a shortened list of these criteria, the criteria for
dyssocial personality disorder from the 10th ed. of the International Classification of
Diseases ( World Health Organization, 1990 ), and a 10-item criteria set for psychopathic
personality disorder derived from the revised Psychopathy Checklist.